Norman James Brian Plomley (born 6 November 1912 – 8 April 1994) regarded by some as one of the most respected and scholarly of Australian historians and, until his death, in Launceston, the

doyen Doyen and doyenne (from the French word ''doyen'', ''doyenne'' in the feminine grammatical gender) is the senior ambassador by length of service in a particular country. In the English language, the meaning of doyen (feminine form: doyenne) ha ...

Tasmanian Aboriginal The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...

scholarship.

Professional background

He graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree from Sydney University in 1935. He did postgraduate work at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in 1936–1937 and obtained his

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first prop ...

in 1947. Qualified as an

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

, throughout a varied academic career he worked in England; and Hobart, Sydney, and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, mostly as a lecturer in

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

. he was

Senior Lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this conce ...

in Anatomy at the University of Sydney from 1950 to 1960, and subsequently at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

(1961–1965), and

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, (1966–1973). He later acquired distinction as an

ethnological Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

historian, and from 1974 to 1976, was Senior Associate in Aboriginal and Oceanic Ethnology at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. Plomley's publications, especially his seminal ''Friendly Mission'' (1966), reawakened interest in the study of Tasmanian Aboriginal history. Plomley was conservative by temperament and a traditional state historian.

Stuart Macintyre Stuart Forbes Macintyre (21 April 1947 – 22 November 2021) was an Australian historian, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne from 1999 to 2008. He was voted one of Australia's most influential historians. Early lif ...

, "History, Politics and the Philosophy of History", in ''Australian Historical Studies'', Vol. 35, Issue 123, 2004, pp. 130–136 He established the Plomley Foundation at the

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) is a museum located in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. The QVMAG is the largest museum in Australia not located in a capital city. History The foundation stone for the original building to ...

in Launceston, where he had worked as its director from 1946 to 1950. He donated his collection of books, maps and papers to that museum on his death.

Published works

Books and booklets

*''Tasmanian Aboriginal material in collections in Europe,'' 1961 *''French manuscripts referring to the Tasmanian aborigines: a preliminary report,'' Museum Committee, Launceston City Council, 1966 *(editor) ''Friendly mission: The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of

George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a British-born colonial official and self-trained preacher in colonial Australia. In 1824, Robinson travelled to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, where he attempted to negotiate ...

1829–1834,'' Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart, 1966 *''Friendly mission: the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson, 1829-1934. A supplement,'' Tasmanian Historical Research Association, 1971 *''A summary of published work on the physical anthropology of the Tasmanian aborigines,'' Museum Committee, Launceston City Council, 1966 *''An annotated bibliography of the Tasmanian aborigines,'' Royal Anthropological Institute Occasional paper, no. 28, London, 1969 *''Several generations,'' Wentworth Books, 1971 *''A manual of dissection for students of dentistry,'' Churchill Livingstone, 1975 *''A word-list of the

Tasmanian languages The Tasmanian languages were the languages indigenous to the island of Tasmania, used by Aboriginal Tasmanians. The languages were last used for daily communication in the 1830s, although the terminal speaker, Fanny Cochrane Smith, survived unt ...

,'' 1976 *'' The Baudin expedition and the Tasmanian Aborigines 1802,'' Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1983 *''Weep in silence: a history of the Flinders Island aboriginal settlement, with the Flinders Island journal of George Augustus Robinson, 1835–1839,'' Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1987 * (editor) ''Jorgen Jorgenson and the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land : being a reconstruction of his "lost" book on their customs and habits, and on his role in the Roving Parties and the Black Line,'' Blubber Head Press, 1991 *''The Tasmanian tribes & cicatrices as tribal indicators among the Tasmanian Aborigines,'' Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 1992 *''The Tasmanian aborigines,'' Plomley Foundation, Launceston, 1993 *''The Tasmanian tribes'', Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, 1993

Co-authored books

*(with A. L. Meston) ''Miscellaneous notes on the culture of the Tasmanian Aboriginal,''

National Museum of Victoria National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, 1956 *(with William Frank Ellis), ''A list of Tasmanian Aboriginal material in collections in Europe,'' Museum Committee, Launceston City Council, 1962 *(with Claudia Sagona), ''An annotated bibliography of the Tasmanian Aborigines, 1970–1987,'' Art School Press,

Chisholm Institute of Technology Monash University, Caulfield campus is a campus of Monash University located in Caulfield East, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria. The campus comprises 13,400 students of which 52.8% are female and 57.1% of st ...

, 1989 *(with Christine Cornell and Max Banks)
''Francois Peron's natural history of Maria Island, Tasmania''
Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston; no. 99, 1990 *(with Kristen Anne Henley) ''The sealers of Bass Strait and the Cape Barren Island community,'' Blubber Head Press, Hobart, 1990 *(with Lynda Manley, Caroline Goodall) ''The Westlake papers: records of interviews in Tasmania by Ernest Westlake, 1908–1910,'' Occasional paper No.4, Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery 1991 *(with Caroline Goodall) ''Tasmanian aboriginal place names,''

, Launceston, 1992 *(with Caroline Goodall, Martina Smythe) ''The aboriginal/settler clash in Van Diemen's Land 1803–1831,'' Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Occasional Paper, No.6 Launceston, 1992 *(with Josiane Piard-Bernier) ''The General: the visits of the expedition led by Bruny d'Entrecasteaux to Tasmanian waters in 1792 and 1793,'' Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, 1993 *(with Mary Cameron) ''Plant foods of the Tasmanian aborigines,'' Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, 1993

Short biographies

* Meston, Archibald Lawrence (1890-1951), educationist, historian and anthropology', in Bede Nairn and

Geoffrey Serle Alan Geoffrey Serle (10 March 1922 – 27 April 1998), known as Geoff, was an Australian historian, who is best known for his books on the colony of Victoria; ''The Golden Age'' (1963) and ''The Rush to be Rich'' (1971) and his biographies of J ...

(eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp. 489–490 * Scott, Herbert Hedley (1866-1938), Museum Curator', in Geoffrey Serle (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 11, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988, p. 546

Journal articles

Thomas Bock Thomas Bock was an English-Australian artist and an early adopter of photography in Australia. Born in England he was sentenced to transportation in 1823. After gaining his freedom he set himself up as one of Australia's first professional ar ...

's Portraits of the Tasmanian Aborigines", Records of the Queen Victoria Museum (Tasmania), vol. 18, 1965, pp. 1–24 *" The Baudin Expedition and the Tasmanian Aborigines in 1802", Margin, vol. 22, 1990, pp. 4–12

Scientific papers

*(With A.L. McAulay and J.M. Ford), "Saltants produced in the

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from t ...

Chaetomium globosum by monochromatic ultra-violet irradiation and a growth effect characteristic of wavelength", in ''Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science,'' 23 (1945), pp. 53–57 * (with Joan Munro Ford Nicolls, and Alexander Lester McAulay) 'Mutations produced by monochromatic ultra-violet irradiation and X-irradiation of spores of the fungus Chaetomium,' University of Tasmania Dept. of Physics, 1949

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plomley, Brian Australian anthropologists Australian scientists 1994 deaths 1912 births People from Launceston, Tasmania University of Sydney alumni University of Tasmania alumni University of Melbourne faculty 20th-century Australian historians 20th-century anthropologists